PCC Wall Calendar

The Beauty of Holiness

The art created by people in our denomination may point us to God’s glory, truth, wonder, love, grace and power in our lives, and it reminds us that God’s gifts and qualities are to be enjoyed, even desired. Faithful painters, photographers, needleworkers, carvers and poets have always been inspired by God to reflect the beauty they see around them and to worship God with their artistic abilities, as well as with their creations. In turn, the beautiful objects that skilled artists produce help us worship God in beauty as well as in truth.

Read the full introduction to the 2022 PCC Wall Calendar

Hearing may be the sense we usually associate with the Christian faith. We hear a call, and we listen for the “Word of the Lord.” Paul writes to the Romans that, “faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). But God has blessed us with other senses; the eye and seeing have their place, too, in nurturing faith. “The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord has made them both,” goes the saying from Proverbs 20:12. “Taste and see that the Lord is good” (34:8) and “Open my eyes, so that I may behold wondrous things out of your law,” (119:18) say the psalmists. Restoring sight to the blind is a sign of the coming Reign of God and of Christ’s power, love and grace.

In the book of Exodus, God orders that the tent used for worship be decorated beautifully. To this end, God blessed people with “ability, intelligence and knowledge in every kind of craft, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, in every kind of craft” (31:3–5).

The art created by people in our denomination may point us to God’s glory, truth, wonder, love, grace and power in our lives, and it reminds us that God’s gifts and qualities are to be enjoyed, even desired. Faithful painters, photographers, needleworkers, carvers and poets have always been inspired by God to reflect the beauty they see around them and to worship God with their artistic abilities, as well as with their creations. In turn, the beautiful objects that skilled artists produce help us worship God in beauty as well as in truth.

For the 2022 edition of the PCC Wall Calendar, we asked for submissions of artwork created by Presbyterians from across the country. This calendar reflects some of the ways beauty delights the eye and instructs the heart and mind. These amazing submissions for the calendar also affirm that God has blessed many people among us with skill and creativity “in every kind of craft.”

The Rev. Ian Ross-McDonald – General Secretary, The Life and Mission Agency